President Bharrat Jagdeo is in Washington DC to meet with officials of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and USAID as both entities are partnering with government on a number of developmental projects.

According to a Government Informa-tion Agency (GINA) press release, on October 29 government and USAID launched the Guyana Threshold Country Plan Implemen-tation Project (GTCP/IP) which will focus on boosting the country’s economy. Guyana qualified for the programme after being assessed in three categories of indicators: ruling justly, investing in people and economic freedom. The country passed all indicators but two that relate to economic freedom where the country’s fiscal deficit was 8.12% while the Millennium Challenge Account’s (MCA) median is 3.48%. The country also fell down in the number of days which it takes to start a business – 46 while the MCA’s median is 43.

According to GINA Guyana was approved for MCA participation in 2005. A Concept Paper was developed and submitted to the MCC in March 2005 “stressing the need for a comprehensive approach for addressing the two key indicators which were not passed by the country,” the release said. The MCC Board approved the Threshold Country Plan in August 2007 and the project’s implementation started on January 14, 2008.